Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday directed the authorities to close markets and restaurants by 10:00pm in Lahore to control the smog.

The orders were issued by Justice Shahid Karim while hearing a petition seeking the court’s intervention to curb smog.

While issuing the directives, the court said that the restaurants be allowed to close at 11pm on weekends. The court also ordered that schools opening on Fridays be sealed and directed the education department to strictly implement its orders.

During the hearing, the court was suggested to close the markets on Sunday. However, it put off the suggestion for now. The hearing has been adjourned till December 19.

Last week, the Punjab government, on the LHC’s order, issued a notification directing closure of schools and offices in Lahore for additional two days – Friday and Saturday – weekly due to the worsening smog situation in the city.

The notification, issued by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), stated that the staff may continue to work from home.

According to an official statement, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said action should be taken to control the factors that cause smog. He said officers of the environment, transport and industries departments as well as district administration should be active in the field to implement the plan. He said failure to implement the existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) to reduce smog would not be tolerated.

In recent days, the air quality level in Lahore has deteriorated to unhealthy levels, with the city blanketed in smog.

According to iqair.com, a website that monitors air quality across the globe, the air quality in Lahore on the AQI (air quality index) was 149 at 2:30pm on Wednesday, which qualified as “unhealthy for sensitive groups”.